Working Waterfront

Small, island-town values play well in big world

Benjamin Stevens of Islesford (Little Cranberry Island) graduated this month from Maine Maritime Academy in Castine. Every year, people from Maine’s islands buy all sorts of things. We buy clothes and shoes, tools and supplies, fuel and electricity, and groceries. Every island resident knows how challenging it is to get their… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

A rock ‘n roll novel with a melancholy, humorous heart

Vexation Lullaby By Justin Tussing/Catapult, 2016 Mild-mannered and romantically abandoned doctor Peter Silver is not accustomed to mystery or adventure, but finds himself steeped in both when he trades in his hospital scrubs for a rock tour bus. Enigmatic Dylanesque superstar Jimmy Cross needs a house call (a hotel call,… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Saving community underpinnings means recognizing them

A friend of mine once wrote that fishing villages came in to existence once they began to disappear. Once seaside villages were lost to other forms of development, nostalgia over their loss emerged, giving rise to the term “fishing villages” in the early 19th century. Most of the time, it… SEE MORE

Peter Willcox in the wheelhouse of a Greenpeace ship.

Working Waterfront

The dangerous work of bringing a green peace

Greenpeace Captain Macmillan, 2016 Big whales, bigger weather, young men at sea in rickety boats as underdogs in quixotic quests. It’s the stuff of good fiction. It’s also the story of Peter Willcox, who has traveled more than 400,000 miles at the helm of Greenpeace ships, through tropical storms and… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Tales from the boatyards

Boatbuilding on Mount Desert Island By Laurie Schreiber The History Press, 2016 In a small, once-isolated Maine community like Mount Desert Island, before it became a destination resort, boatbuilding was a necessity. Everyone lived on an island; roads were few or nonexistent; water was the way to get around the… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Topsham: A history from the Abenakis to I-295

Topsham: From the River to the Highlands By Robert C. Williams Just Write Books, Topsham, Maine, 2015 Long before Thomas Purchase in 1628 set up a little trading post in the area known as Pejepscot near the outlet of the Androscoggin River, Abenaki Indians probably ran a village there. Archaeological… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

…And counting

"In God we trust; everyone else, bring data." —Michael Bloomberg For better or worse, we live in the age of metrics. The jury isn't in yet, but I'm thinking it's better and worse. Probably the most colorful example of metrics-driven decision-making comes from the world of sports. A book and… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Feasting with the summer folk an island tradition

Just beneath the surface in most men there lurks a real grub. My wife offered this wry observation after I described to her the behavior of the men in attendance at the annual stag lobster feed, hosted for over 50 years now by the Vinalhaven Lions Club. Long referred to… SEE MORE

Grindle Point Lighthouse with the Camden Hills to the west.

Working Waterfront

When Chebeague came to Islesboro

We all started out in our respective island kitchens on the morning of May 2, assembling lunches—sandwiches, salads, goodies to go—eight women from Chebeague and about a dozen on Islesboro, when the Chebeague Methodist Church Ladies Aid came for a visit to Islesboro’s Sewing Circle. Initiated by Jane Frizzel, leader… SEE MORE

High school graduation on North Haven in 2014. The grads wore the colors that corresponded to the colors of their lobster buoys.

Working Waterfront

Reversing island ‘brain drain’ falls to locals

As a high school teacher, I spend some time each year talking with students about their next steps. At North Haven Community School, we have a healthy mix in each graduating class of students attending four-year colleges, community colleges or trade schools, entering military service, or choosing to stay on… SEE MORE